Comments on: A Democracy or a Republic?

By: Jeff Molby

Jeff Molby — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:20:38 +0000

To the extent that More’s Utopia is equivalent to communism, it is impossible. There have been a number of high profile attempts to achieve that dream and they’ve all come up short.

The various forms of theoretical anarchy, on the other hand, run in the opposite direction. Our republic is among the closest experiments in that direction and even it falls way short of what anarchists would call a meaningful test case.

By: Jay

Jay — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:39:24 +0000

Or perhaps utopia is possible too.

By: Jeff Molby

Jeff Molby — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:14:36 +0000

I’d say he’s basically correct re: monarchies and oligarchies; the distinction is basically meaningless.

Yes, anarchy has existed for brief periods, but that isn’t the kind of anarchy that any studied anarchist would advocate. Someone who actually advocates anarchism is advocating a society that hasn’t existed on a meaningful scale in recorded history. That’s not to say it’s impossible, though. The same could have been said about republics at one point in time, too.

By: Jay

Jay — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:20:15 +0000

I expected, instead of stating no true monarchy existing, that he would redefine monarchy as an oligarchy with a very dominating individual at its head. I also expected him to state no true anarchy exists as well. I guess anarchy does exist for brief periods of time between certain transitions of power.

By: Jeff Molby

Jeff Molby — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 05:28:53 +0000

Not bad. He makes an unjustified leap at the 1:56 mark, though. He further uses that leap to promote his own bias. I’m sympathetic towards his bias, but still… there’s no reason to tolerate intellectual dishonesty. Anyways, there’s no inherent correlation between the various forms of governments he describes and their positions on the Total Govt No Govt spectrum. I’m sure there are many examples of oligarchies that are less obtrusive France’s republic, for example.

Also, he did a complete slash & burn job on anarchy. There’s a colossal difference between the vacuum that occurs between governments and a society that deliberately phases out governmental institutions in favor of private institutions. It may be that human nature makes it impossible for such a thing to happen, but still… attack anarchy on its merits; strawmen deserve no place among honest men.